The Trump opportunity

It’s easy to discount Donald Trump as the Kim Kardashian of American politics. And it’s reasonable to castigate him for verbal vulgarities. But Trump is bringing something to the table that other candidates, Democratic and Republican, don’t bring on their own, and that’s the ability to spark voter interest.

Voters are tired of self-dealing politicians who break promises and put winning and partisanship above governing and leadership. They’re turned off to the whole process. What’s the use, they ask. Nothing changes, anyway.

Pundits may dismiss the big debate audience last week (four times larger than the historical average) as if it were something bad. “The only reason people watched the debate was Trump,” they will correctly argue. “The media only cover Trump because he’s good copy,” they will accurately add.

But wait a minute. Isn’t a huge debate audience a good thing — a sign of life — for what is otherwise a deteriorating political process? Isn’t the attention Trump brings to this election, for whatever reason, something that can be harnessed and used to engage more voters?

Now is the chance for the other candidates, all 21 of them, to do two things that would be healthy for America. First, look into the abyss of public cynicism and seriously contemplate why a powerful, rich and advanced country such as ours allows such inane politics and incompetent governance to hold us back. Second, out-Trump Trump — not as a showman, but as a leader who speaks the truth on our country’s big challenges, from the mess in the Middle East to an economy that needs to be retooled, infrastructure that needs to be rebuilt, a regulatory system that needs to be reformed and a federal bureaucracy that needs to be restructured.

As the legitimacy of our political system falls apart before our very eyes, maybe this is the chance to really give voters what they want: elected officials who work hard to do the right thing, as opposed to the easy thing. Maybe, just maybe, the presidential contenders can speak sensibly and courageously to the audience that Donald Trump has gathered for them.

Faucheux is president of Clarus Research Group, a nonpartisan survey research firm. He publishes Lunchtime Politics, a daily newsletter on polls and public opinion.